How To Create The Perfect Landing Page

A great landing page can drastically change the results you see from your website. This is an area that you can’t afford to just throw together: it is your first impression. People tend to decide whether they want to continue browsing your site with just a glance at your landing page. These four tips will guide you in the right direction, and help retain your visitors.

1) The right amount of copy: Information overload can be a serious issue for your landing page. Too much copy and your visitors may go running for the hills, straight into the arms of your competitors. One way to make sure your copy is as concise as can be is to thoroughly consider your audience, and have different pages that explain the benefits of your service(s) or product(s) catered to each. For example, if your product was an at-home t-shirt logo maker, it would be difficult to appeal to universities, businesses, individuals, and event organizers all at once. Keep the message as personal as possible. Also keep in mind that paragraphs of text don’t tend to convert very well, as visitors tend to scan and move on.

Consider adding “lightboxes” to your website. These are the windows that open up on your landing page and dim the background text. These pop-up windows only appear when the visitor prompts them to, and gives them more information on a particular topic. This keeps the page clean and concise and allows the visitor to only see the extra information they want to see.

2)Optimize phone conversions: If relevant, make sure your landing page is optimized for phone call conversions. While it’s more important now than ever to convert visitors online, phone call conversions are still significantly higher. According to New Voice Media, conversion rates for phone calls are between 30 to 50 percent, while web leads tend to have a 1 or 2 percent conversion rate. Another study by String Automotive found that landing pages with a click-to-call button improved call rates by 200%. This is an especially important feature for visitors who are browsing the web on their phone. You can also add a call back widget, or an area for visitors to request to speak to a representative.

3)Examine other landing pages: Take a look at the landing pages of different businesses to see how they’re capturing and keeping their audience. Examine competitor websites on both larger and smaller scales, as well as websites catering to different industries. You can learn a lot by examing the landing page decisions and case studies of others companies.

4) A/B Test Your landing page: When designing landing pages, it’s important to understand that it’s better to operate with a trial-and-error disposition, rather than making assumption as to what will boost your landing page’s performance. Creating two (or more) landing page variations can give better insight as to what’s working for you. You can test phrases, photos, videos, lightboxes and more. For example, Ancestry.com tested button sizes and call-to-action, placement of imagery, and more—all with the intent to find the right recipe for delivering a more personalized experience.

Additionally, studies have shown that, contrary to popular belief, call-to-actions below the fold worked better for conversion rates than those above it. For example, DeWalt changed their wording on product descriptions from “Buy Now” to “Shop Now” and saw 17% more clicks. Pull apart your landing page piece by piece, and play around with rearranging and altering bits of content until you are confident with what you have. Use heat map services like Crazy Egg or HotJar can give you insight into where visitors are clicking and scrolling on the page.